There was one telling element missing from all President Obama’s announcements on guns yesterday: What are his legislative recommendations and “executive actions” intended to accomplish?

And what is the standard by which any results will be measured?

The president’s stated rationale was simple: “If there’s even one thing we can do to reduce this violence, if there’s even one life that can be saved, then we’ve got an obligation to try.”

With those words, flanked by schoolchildren, Obama tapped into the emotional outpouring that has followed the Newtown school massacre. The horror of that tragedy has led to an understandable demand on our politicians to “do something.”

Unfortunately, in the rush to get something done, the most important question remains unanswered: Will these moves in fact reduce gun violence or prevent another Newtown?

We have the same question about the New York effort rushed into law Tuesday on Gov. Cuomo’s instigation.

With regard to the president, some of his actions were overdue, such as naming a permanent ATF director. Others were vague — e.g., launching “a national dialogue on mental health” and a “national safe-gun-ownership campaign.”

He also urged legislation that this paper has called for, such as limitations on military-style weapons and high-capacity magazines.

But the reality is that Obama put so much emphasis on executive orders because he knows there is little chance of any serious action coming out of Congress.

Majority Leader Harry Reid said last weekend that even the Senate, controlled by Obama’s own party, is unlikely to pass an assault-weapons ban.

A similar dynamic was at work in Albany.

As The Post so vividly noted yesterday with an illustration of two Benelli MR1 rifles, even under New York’s new law, the line between legal and illegal can be meaningless.

But the law achieved its purpose.

Plainly, Cuomo was trying to beat Obama to the punch — even if that meant coming away with something largely devoid of substance.

And politicians will always take something over nothing, no matter how meaningless that something may be.

Maybe Obama will be proved right. Maybe there will be a provision here or there out of Washington — or even Albany — that does some measure of good.

The problem is that no one will know, because they’ve not given us any clear way to put what they’ve done to the test.

Gov. Cuomo and President Obama have been collecting accolades for their leadership. We’ll leave it to others to cheer the noble-sounding rhetoric. We’re still waiting for clear goals and measurable results.